Indian government says Google Maps is ”unreliable”

Even though is the most popular mapping service in the world, Google Maps doesn’t seem to satisfy everybody. Not the Indian government, at least.

Because of its flaws in India, a mapping and survey organization, Survey of India (SoI) made survey which concludes that Google Maps is “not authenticated” and “un-approved” by the government and it shouldn’t be used for high-end applications.

Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General of India, said that Google Maps is used for low-end applications, such as navigating from one point to another, for example. The maps maintained by Survey of India, on the other hand, should be used in all high-end applications, according to the official.

“If you are using Google Maps to reach a restaurant or park, even if you reach 50 meters close to that place, you are happy,” Rao said. “But when we have to put a new railway line or make canals, that is where our topographic maps come in, when you require very accurate, engineering quality data.”

In the meantime, the SoI is working on making its mapping data available to the public for free, in order to make Indian citizens move away from Google Maps, and use official government data instead.